Category Archives: Cookies

Musical Birthday Party

Celebration Cakes, Cookies,

Keyboard Cake

Aaron had a fun musical themed birthday party.  His cake was made to look like a keyboard.  It’s definitely not to scale, but it’s so cute for a 4 year old!  All the buttons and keys were made out of fondant.

Black and White Piano Cookies

These black and white piano cookies were made to match the cake and the musical theme. I love the way they turned out!

Musical Number 4 Birthday Cookies

These number 4 sugar cookies were super cute as well!  Not being musical at all, I’m not sure that the musical notes are perfectly to code but they look good to me!

Musical Guitar Sugar Cookies

Here are the musical guitar cookies that were made to match the musical color scheme.

Musical Cake Pops

 

These cake pops turned out better than expected!  After dipping them in candy melts I piped black royal icing around each pop and then piped some cute musical notes all around.

Musical Mini Cupcake Toppers

These mini cupcakes were topped with fondant cupcake toppers.  They really tied the theme together.  All these treats were really fun to make, but my favorite is always the cake.  Here it is one more time…

Musical Keyboard Birthday Cake

Happy 4th Birthday Aaron!

My Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie {recipe}

Cookies,

My favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe

My favorite dessert is definitely a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie.  When I don’t know what to bake for friends and family, I default to chocolate chip cookies.  When it’s cold and snowy outside, there is nothing more comforting and delicious than baking up a batch of my favorite treat.

Dairy Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have tried to turn many many recipes for these perfect treats from dairy to dairy free and most come out fine.  Replacing the butter in cookie recipes is not always so simple. Then one day I stumbled upon a recipe that called for a secret ingredient: vanilla pudding. I gave it a shot, replacing the butter for margarine, and now it’s my favorite recipe.  I even developed a Passover version that my family has dubbed “I can’t believe these are not chometz cookies”.

Non-Dairy Chocolate Chip CookiesThese cookies come out thick and soft in the center with crispy edges.  They don’t spread too thinly in the oven, and they freeze beautifully.  My favorite feature of this recipe is that there is no need to chill the dough before baking.  When I’m in the mood for these beauties, I mix up a batch, scoop them out, and after 9 minutes in the oven, they are ready to devour.  Here is my dairy free and printable recipe; enjoy!

Save Print
My Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie {recipe}
Author: 
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 3 dozen
 
Ingredients
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) margarine
  • ¾ cup brown sugar
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • 1 tsp, vanilla extract
  • 2 eggs
  • 2¼ cups flour
  • 1 package vanilla pudding mix
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • ¾ tsp. salt
  • 12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
  3. In the bowl on an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the margarine with the sugars and vanilla extract until smooth.
  4. Add in the eggs, one at a time, and mix until combined.
  5. Mix in the flour, pudding mix, baking soda, and salt, and mix until combined.
  6. Add in the chocolate chips and mix just until combined, trying not to break up the chips.
  7. Using a 1½ Tbs. size cookie scoop or spoon, scoop cookie dough onto parchment lined cookie sheet and bake for 8-11 minutes until edges are lightly browned. Remove from oven and let cookies cool on baking sheet to firm up a bit. Enjoy!

Here are some more comfort foods for you to try!

Peanut Butter Chanukah Gelt Cookies

Cookies, ,

Peanut Butter Chanukah Gelt Cookies

I love these cookies.  They are a stroke of genius!  Too bad they were not my ingenious idea though.  I cannot take credit for them, the original  recipe comes from Miriam of Overtime Cook.  I have been making peanut butter blossom cookies (a peanut butter cookie rolled in sugar and topped with chocolate kisses or chips) for years.  But a few years ago Miriam decided to press a piece of Chanukah gelt into the cookie and life has never been the same!  I love this idea and was so bummed that I didn’t think of it first!  Since then, Chanie of Busy in Brooklyn made olive oil crinkle cookies sprayed with edible gold shimmer and topped with chocolate gelt, and again I was blown away.  Finally Miriam was back this year with a new version of her original: melt-in-your-mouth Chanukah cookies and I knew it was time for me to join the party.

Blue Sugar Peanut Butter Cookies

My twist on the original is pretty cute.  Instead of rolling the cookies in plain white sugar, I rolled them in two different colors or blue crystal sugar before pressing a delicious piece of gelt in each one.  I think this really gives them a festive vibe.  They would also look gorgeous rolled in gold or silver sugar or even clear crystal sugar.  I love that these can be made to match any party decor.  Thank you Miriam and Chanie for your inspiration!  Here is my non-dairy recipe adapted from Hershey’s.

Save Print
Peanut Butter Chanukah Gelt Cookies
Author: 
Serves: 3½ dozen
 
Ingredients
  • ½ cup shortening
  • ¾ cup peanut butter
  • ⅓ cup sugar
  • ⅓ cup brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tbs. soy milk
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 1½ cups flour
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • crystal sugar for rolling
  • 30-40 unwrapped large chocolate gelt
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat shortening with the sugars until light and fluffy.
  3. Add in the egg and beat until combined.
  4. Add in the soy milk and vanilla and stir to combine.
  5. Add in the flour, and baking soda and mix until dough forms.
  6. Using a 2 tsp. size cookie scoop or regular spoon, scoop batter and roll into balls.
  7. Roll each ball in crystal sugar, place on parchment lined baking sheet and gently flatten slightly.
  8. Bake for 7-9 minutes until the edges are slightly browned and cookies is cracked.
  9. Allow to cool on baking sheet for 5 to 10 minutes before pressing each chocolate on to the cookies.
  10. Allow to cool completely, you may place cookies in the fridge or freezer for a few minutes to help the chocolate firm up.